Not sure how anyone can consider the pad pro 2021 just "incremental upgrade" to its predecessor. List of upgrades based on spec sheet:
SOC from SD730 to SD 870. Performance gain is
HUGE.
Pad pro 2021 antutu score is around 71k compared to the 28k for the 2020 version. Even the mid ranger lenovo pad plus with sd750 craps on sd730 in terms of performance.
Ram + internal storage from LPDDR4x + UFS 2.1 to LPDDR5 + UFS3.1
Oled screen from 60 hz to 90hz.
I feel this is a somewhat superficial upgrade but some folks will swear by the fluidity of higher refresh rate screens so to each his own. A more important change is that the screen on the pad pro 2021 is brighter with 420 nits typical and 600 nits peak. But the bummer here is that according to chinese reviews i read, the screen still uses pentile arrangement also found on pad pro 2020.
Wifi
Pad pro 2021 supports wifi 6(ax) while the older version only supports up to ac. That provides future proofing for years to come even if you are currently not running a wifi 6 setup.
Price wise on taobao, the pad pro 2021 can be had at 2500rmb during promotion(u.p. 3000rmb). Thats only about $60 more than the pad pro 2020 which is still selling at around 2200rmb. That makes going for the pad pro 2021 a total no brainer if you can get it at the promo price.
To put into perspective the value you get for specs of the pad pro 2021, compare it against the huawei mate pro 12.6 selling at around 5500rmb, which incidentally also uses a oled screen with pentile arrangement.
Yar sure no doubt the matepad pro 12.6 is higher specced but is it worth twice the price and not forgetting there is no support for google at all on the huawei.